MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday directed a trial court in Madurai to conclude the trial in the custodial death case of a 17-year-old boy within six months. Justice GR Swaminathan passed the order on a petition filed by the victim's mother M Jeya, seeking departmental action against the SS colony police, who were allegedly responsible for her son's death in 2019.
The judge noted that a charge memo has been issued to the erring police personnel on May 5, 2022, and an inquiry officer has been appointed on October 31. A charge sheet was also filed against the policemen and the case is pending before V Additional District Sessions Judge, Madurai for framing of charges and trial, he added.
Justice GR Swaminathan, therefore, disposed of the petition with a direction to the trial judge to frame the charges on December 1 itself and conclude the trial within six months. According to Jeya, her son Muthu Karthick, who worked as a cleaner at a cement factory, was taken to the SS colony police station on January 13, 2019, for inquiring about a burglary.
She claimed that her son was subjected to physical torture by the police for nearly three days and was later admitted to the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) on January 18, where he died while undergoing treatment. It could be noted that owing to certain irregularities in the autopsy conducted on Karthick's body, the high court ordered a CB-CID investigation in March 2019.